Would I like it? What a DREAM! But hey, what happens if I push this red button?
December 12, 2007 4:03 PM 
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In the early 1950's,
Monsanto Chemical Company, MIT and Disneyland
collaborated their resources and creative brainpower
to build "the house of 1986." Using 30,000 pounds of plastic (The building's structure, carpet, chairs, sinks, appliances and floors were all plastic. About $7,500 to $15,000 worth.), the
Monsanto House of the Future* was opened to an excited public in June of 1957. It was closed in 1967 as ideas of the future were beginning to change.
Let's take a quick tour, shall we?
*(Not to be confused with Xanadu Homes of Tomorrow.)
Indirectly related.
From
this page:
In June of 1957, Disneyland opened Monsanto's House of the Future. It remained for 10 years, finally closing in 1967 with the remodeling of Tomorrowland. In it's short run, more than 20 million visitors got a glimpse of what the future home may include. Such innovations included insulated glass walls, picture telephones, plastic chairs, microwave ovens, speaker phones and electric toothbrushes. The house included three bedrooms, two baths, a living room, a dining room and a family room. Some inventions never came to a reality (yet), including ultrasonic dishwashers, foam-backed plastic floor coverings, atomic food preservation and plastic sinks with adjustable heights. Upon entering the home, a voice would state "Welcome to Monsanto's Home of the Future", and continue to cover the details of construction, which was almost entirely of plastics. Monsanto sponsored the exhibit, but the house itself was built at MIT and remained at Disneyland until it was demolished. A giant wrecking ball was brought in, but bounced off the sturdy plastic construction. A crew of several men had to go in and demolish it by hand, dragging most of it away. Unfortunately, none of the original building was ever salvaged.
From
this link:
The house was a hit for people visiting the park, but Monsanto's plans for their prefab home were a complete flop. The aesthetics of a giant, floating plastic X just weren't palatable to the general public. Monsanto quickly dropped any plans of selling the design and settled with just leaving it as an attraction.
When it came time to tear it down in 1967, Disneyland ran into a problem: the house was too well constructed! The wrecking ball they had brought in just bounced harmlessly off the plastic walls. Eventually, each wing had to be pulled off the main core by cables and taken apart by hand. The main core, however, had to be slowly beaten away with pickaxes and shovels. Each small piece dragged away, and not a single one salvaged for history.
posted by HuronBob at 4:10 PM on December 12, 2007